The Bomb
by singerme
Summary: Just a small scene between Lee and Amanda.


The Bomb

A wonderful writer of SMK stories suggested I write something for the show and I said no as I generally write for Gunsmoke. But after thinking about it and watching numerous episodes lately of SMK, I came up with this little scenario. It's not much and I will always put Gunsmoke first but I hope this is okay.

Set sometime during the first of 3rd season. This not a story really, as much as it is a small moment in time between Lee and Amanda.

I don't own these characters; I just like to spend time with them. No other profit to be had.

**SMKSMKSMKSMKSMKSMK**

Lee sat stiffly in the hospital room holding tightly to Amanda's left hand as he watched her sleep; the IV attached to her right hand endlessly dripping lifesaving fluid into her veins. His beleaguered mind kept going back over the events of the day, trying in vain to figure out what exactly happened.

It had been a simple pick-up. All she had to do was go to the non-descript house in a non-descript part of town and pick up a non-descript package. It was not supposed to be a dangerous mission. That was why he'd allowed her to go in his place. But there was nothing non-descript about the bomb that blew the house apart and very nearly killed Amanda. It was very descript indeed.

Shaking his head, he kept thinking about the small thing that had saved her life. Of all things, a speeding ticket. She had been on her way and had gotten stuck behind a slow moving semi. The instructions for the pick-up had been very specific and ordered that she be there precisely at one pm. She had gone around the semi, in a rare show of speed and had immediately gotten pulled over for speeding. The ticket made her ten minutes late.

That ten minutes had saved her. If she'd arrived on time and had actually made it into the house, she would've died. As it was, she was almost to the porch when the house blew and a large section of the front wall had landed on her. "Very lucky." The doctor had said.

"Hmpf." He said out loud without thinking about it. "If she'd been lucky, she'd never have met me."

"That's not true." A small raspy voice sounded from the bed. "The day I met you was my luckiest day."

"Amanda?" Lee sat up and anxiously scanned her face. "How are you feeling?"

"Like a house hit me." She gave him a small grin. "What happened?"

"A house hit you." Lee grinned back, so happy to see her smile. "The pickup was a set-up." He informed her. "Francine's going over everything as we speak but Billy thinks they were aiming for me." Lee ducked his head, trying to rein in his emotions before he looked back up at his partner. "Amanda, I am so sorry. You should've never been at that damn house to begin with. This is my fault."

"Lee," she tugged at the hand that still held hers. "It's not your fault. Please."

Lee heard the pleading in her voice and ducked his head again with a nod. "Yeah, well, maybe, but I promise you, Amanda, I will find whoever did this and I will make them pay for this."

"You will do no such thing, Scarecrow." Billy said as he entered the room. "Francine is more than capable of running this investigation and I have given her strict orders that you are not to go anywhere near it." Turning from his top agent, he looked down at his newest one. "Hello, Amanda, how are you feeling?"

"I'm alright, Sir." She smiled. "Or at least I will be, I think."

"Billy," Lee hissed. "You can't keep me out of this investigation. It was me they were trying to kill and it was my partner that got hurt. You gotta let me in on this one." Lee couldn't explain it, even to himself at that moment, but finding out who had hurt Amanda and getting to them meant more than anything to him right then.

"I'm sorry, Scarecrow." Billy shook his balding head. "But no. I don't need you going on some personal vendetta and ruining any chances we may have of finding out who did this. Now you're out of this one and that's final."

"Aw, come on, Billy." Lee released Amanda's hand and rose from the chair, agitatedly running his hand through his hair as he paced towards the window. "You can't do this."

"Oh yes I can," Billy answered.

"Lee," Amanda's small quiet voice had more effect on Lee than Billy's louder and gruffer voice. "Lee, please."

She was pleading again, and he took a long deep breath before turning back to her. "Amanda… I… I have to… I…"

"Please, Lee." The pleading wasn't only in her voice. It was in her soft brown eyes as well and it stopped him in his tracks.

Although he had no idea how she'd done it, Amanda had found a way around his defenses and settled herself in his heart. And as each day passed, he found it increasingly more difficult to tell her no when she looked at him like that.

Taking another deep breath, he nodded finally. "Alright," he said without his eyes leaving her face. "Alright, I'll stay out of it for now. But, Billy, if Francine doesn't find something pretty quick…"

"Francine is a consummate professional who knows her job." Billy said, letting him know with his glare that he would brook no interference from Lee, top agent or not. When Lee didn't respond, Billy satisfied himself that he had gotten through to him and his expression softened.

Turning to Amanda, he took her hand in both of his and gave it a gentle squeeze. "Amanda, I'm going to take Lee out of here for a while and let you get some more rest."

"Sir?" Amanda asked. "What about my family? Has anyone called them? Do they know…"

"I called your mother, Amanda." Lee told her. "I told her that you and I were being called out of town on an urgent shoot and that you'd call her later."

"Okay, thank you, Lee." She smiled back up at him.

Lee started to turn away and follow Billy from the room, but an impulse overtook him and without thinking about it, he followed up on it. Bending down over the bed, he tenderly placed his lips over hers, softly and sweetly kissing her before rising back up and heading for the door.

Just before leaving the room, he looked back over at her and grinned. "I'll see you later."

Amanda nodded but for once was at a loss of words as she watched him walk out the door. Smiling broadly, she settled back against her pillow. "I sure hope, Scarecrow." She whispered. "Cause that kiss hit me harder than the bomb did."

The end.


End file.
